


Payback Is A Bitch

by DixieDale



Category: Clan O'Donnell - Fandom, Garrison's Gorillas
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-06
Updated: 2019-09-06
Packaged: 2020-10-11 04:07:50
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,818
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20539856
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DixieDale/pseuds/DixieDale
Summary: Will Actor be called to account for his behavior during the time Sister Therese stayed at The Cottage?  He doesn't think so, certainly, sees no reason he would be, but Garrison and the guys?  They just aren't so sure he's right.





	Payback Is A Bitch

**Author's Note:**

> Aftermath to 'Sister Therese'.

He'd caught the speculative glances, heard the odd whisper or two, and finally it dawned on him what his teammates were going on about. Well, it was nonsense, of course, but he found it annoying so he decided to put a stop to it.

"I hardly think putting some effort into making an invited guest feel more comfortable is something to be apologizing for. Yes, I know the Sister and Meghada did not see eye to eye; however, I am quite sure Meghada bears no ill ill toward me for my trying to, um, take up the slack in the conversation. I certainly have seen no signs of such animosity."

Goniff raised incredulous brows, "ever think you might need glasses, Actor? There's this little place I know, up near Manchester Street . . ."

The tall Italian stiffened, "I have no idea of what you mean. My vision is perfect!"

"Yeah, yeah, Beautiful. Just perfect. You notice how when she handed out those meal-on-a-saucer sandwiches she brought us, that yours was the only one without any bacon on it? Or that she accidentally ran out of cream after she'd doctored all of OUR last cups of coffee but BEFORE she got to yours? But suddenly that tin thermos wasn't quite empty when the Limey here wanted just a little more?"

Chief sent a knowing look his way. "Your eyesight is so good, then you saw how you got the only ragged napkin handed to you, or how you ended up with just the wing and neck of that chicken she roasted and brought up here? She already had it all sorted out, remember; handed each of us our own little basket herself Or you figured out that magazine she gets that she always loans you right up front, even before she takes a turn at it, hasn't shown up like usual? Saw it on her desk over a week ago."

"Happenstance, nothing more, I'm sure. She is busy, as are we, with just as much on her mind. I am quite sure there is no deliberate slight intended, even if those are accurate depictions."

Goniff just snorted in amusement, "that's it, Actor, just keep telling yourself that. Just know I'd be watching my step if I were you. Think she might just be warming up to make 'er point, especially if you don't seem to notice 'er subtle little 'ints and get in a good apology."

That got an all-round laugh, from everyone except Actor anyway, Meghada not being known for 'subtle'.

Garrison was lounging in the doorway. "Whose hints about what?"

Casino grinned at the officer. "Seems Beautiful here aint figured out Meghada is a little pissed at him joining in with Sister Therese in getting on her case. She's been dropping hints that the rest of us picked up on real fast, but HE says he aint noticed. Figure she'll lower the boom real good before too long."

Garrison nodded ruefully, knowing quite well she had been and still WAS royally pissed, and not likely to just let the matter slide, not as long as his second-in-command acted as if he'd done nothing wrong. Remembering that knife buried in the countertop, he just hoped she would be satisfied with a similar token gesture regarding their con man, and not something more - something less - Oh, well.

However, as he told the men, "we'll have to hope that waits for awhile. We've got a job, and I think Richards is going to ask her to be part of it. So, Actor, I'd suggest you don't do anything to ruffle her feathers in the meantime. I need you all focused on the job. And, yeah, before you say anything, I intend to give her the same lecture. {"Though I think I'll deliver it by phone, considering her current mood."} Business is business. Payback is personal and can wait."

Actor gave their leader an incredulous look. "You seem as if you also think 'payback' is due. I assure you, Craig . . ."

Garrison waved his hand in a negative motion, along with shaking his head. "It's not me you need to convince, and frankly I wouldn't advise you trying to convince Meghada either. Actor, you disrespected her in her own home. You taunted her, joined in the Sister's sniping attacks, making remarks disparaging others she considers friends - IN HER OWN HOME. When she was honor-bound not to kick the two of you out into the road no matter the provocation. Yes, I'd say she's pissed, and yes, I think you are looking at serious payback. My suggestion? If you don't think you're up to a sincere apology, then just wait it out and accept whatever she deals out, then grin and bear it. You aren't going to win, you know. Just better hope like hell she doesn't put it off too long. It's like ripping off a bandage; better to just get it over with."

Casino snickered, "yeah, you know what they say - 'Payback's a bitch'."

Chief nodded and solemnly added, "or in this case, a Dragon."

Goniff added his own commentary. "And sometimes there's not all that much difference, not w'en you get one really pissed off," smugly grinning, knowing HE wasn't the one who'd earned her wrath. 

Oh, he'd seen her exercise her temper many a time, had heard plenty of stories, but she'd never turned that temper on him, not really. Well, except that time when he did something really . . . Well, nevermind, they'd already gone through that. Wasn't like he intended to do anything like that again. No matter what he pretended, no matter how it looked, in a lot of ways he was one heck of a lot smarter than Actor!

Actor looked at Garrison, then at each of the others, and shook his head in disbelief. {"Was she TRULY that annoyed with me??"}. 

That was a highly disturbing thought. He had heard more than enough from Meghada's brothers as to her and her sisters' talent for retribution, and had seen equally disturbing examples on his own. 

{"No, if they are correct, I am not going to enjoy this. I wonder if there is some way to get back into her good graces WITHOUT facing her wrath first? And without issuing an apology I truly do not think is warranted."}

By the end of the mission he was quite sure Garrison and the others were mistaken. Meghada was her old self, not a hint of displeasure toward him. Had even stepped in to use her knife silently on that guard who had him dead to rights. No, the guys were making what was called 'a mountain out of a molehill.' Perhaps she had been slightly put out, but certainly not bearing any lingering grudge.

Six weeks and two missions later - Augustine's restaurant, London -

"Yes, I can see she was upset," Garrison said solemnly, biting back the laugh he really wanted to let loose. Well, Actor, that elegant, ever so sophisticated man, did look highly uncomfortable wearing that bowl of pasta on his head, red sauce dripping down the sides of his face.

"Any idea what set her off?" the officer asked.

Actor was gingerly leaning forward, dumping the greater mass onto a hastily laid out napkin. The wait staff at Augustine's were staying far away, trying desperately to pretend what just happened, hadn't. Augustine's simply wasn't that sort of place!

"I have not a clue, Craig. We had a delightful time together not three weeks ago, dinner, dancing, and much else. And tonight, all seemed quite well at the beginning. Yet, the more we talked, the more annoyed she seemed to become. And then, finally, this!" he said, picking strands of pasta out of the lapels of his dinner jacket, knowing that elegant garment would never be the same.

"Somehow I never thought of Miss Carmichael as the type to throw food," Kevin Richards remarked, keeping well back from the resulting splatter. He'd been enjoying a quiet dinner with Garrison at a side table at the gala dinner at Augustines and had a front row seat to the aftermath, but hadn't actually seen the action itself, having been faced in the wrong direction.

"Well, she did not actually throw the dish," Actor explained. "We were discussing Shakespeare, quite amicably, I thought. She had leaned forward to make a point, and I was struck by the aptness of her pose. I quoted a line from 'Romeo and Juliet' - 'See how she leans her cheek upon her hand. O, that I were a glove upon that hand, that I might touch that cheek'. She quoted a line from 'Romeo and Juliet' in response, one that didn't seem to quite fit. Then she smiled, said "or not." And then she excused herself and started to rise. I, of course, started to do the same, but she motioned me back to my seat. Told me quite sweetly, "oh, no, no. You stay right where you are. I want to emblazen the image of you sitting there in my mind to hold close to me forever! It will indeed be one of my fondest memories!" I thought she intended to visit the ladies room, but when she reached my side, she reached down, picked up my dish and deposited it, upside down, on top of my head and left."

Garrison snatched up a few more napkins from any surrounding tables that happened to be empty, handed them over to his second-in-command, who nodded an absent-minded thanks. 

"I simply do not understand. We had been discussing the theatre, the opera, literature; there was nothing to annoy her, certainly not to THIS extent. Why Aurelia would have even considered . . . "

Richards frowned, "Aurelia? Did you say 'Aurelia'?"

Actor looked at Richards, puzzled. "Yes, of course. A lovely name; I thought so when we were introduced at the bookstore where we first met. Of course, when we met by chance the next week, there was no need for such formalities. Actually, there was really no time for talking then, I was called away within moments, reminded of a prior engagement - actually a meeting with you, Craig. There was barely enough time to invite her to have dinner here with me tonight. Augustine's gala dinners are really quite nice, and I thought it would be a lovely start to another lovely evening."

Richards looked like he'd swallowed a frog. "Actor, did you call her by name during your dinner? Maybe with a few endearments thrown in," knowing from Garrison just how lush Actor's language could get while romancing one of the fair sex. "Maybe with a few romantic reminders about your previous night together?"

"Well, of course. To do otherwise would be quite rude after what we shared, far too impersonal - as if I'd forgotten her name after what we had shared together. And I assure you I was quite the gentleman; my 'romantic reminders' were just that, nothing crass or vulgar, I assure you."

"Yes, well, impersonal might have been better. And you'd probably have been better off without the reminders as well. And the line from Shakespeare, was it perhaps the 'that which we call a rose by any other name . . . ' bit?" getting a puzzled nod in return.

Richards was torn between laughing and commiserating with the bewildered man sitting there in the soiled dinner jacket with sauce dripping out of his hair.

"Richards?" Garrison asked, just as bewildered as Actor, if considerably cleaner.

The major cleared his throat with some difficulty. "Yes, well, you see, that wasn't Aurelia Carmichael tonight. That was Audrey Carmichael, her twin sister. They are not particularly fond of each other, and are highly competitive in the bargain. She would hardly have taken it well, knowing you thought she was Aurelia, or knowing you'd, em, 'partaken of love's delights' with her sister."

Actor sat there, stunned, and looked at Garrison, then back at Richards.

"But I would surely know if . . . I mean, we DID . . . "

But there was no doubt in the reluctant amusement in Richards' face, the solemn shaking of his head.

"But if they are that much alike, Major, how would YOU know, when I saw no signs? Have you . . .? With either? Perhaps both?"

"Good heavens, no!!!" The major looked totally appalled at the idea. "It is merely that I've known them for years, all their lives really. And because I know that they were always dressed alike as children, were always being called by the wrong name and hated it. Once they became adults, they vowed never to be mistaken for each other again. 

"Aurelia always wears the warmer colors, usually yellow or gold. Audrey is usually in blue, like tonight, although sometimes in violet. They never cross into the other's side of the color spectrum, ever. Just as they never, um, 'date' the same men, frequent the same dressmaker, attend the same parties if they have any inkling the other might be there. You see?

"And believe me, I value my sanity far too much to pursue anything personal with either one of them! Their continuing disputes notwithstanding, one of the few things they have in common is their absolute delight in practical jokes and their perverted sense of humor! Believe me, I have had more than enough opportunity to observe both, since they are contemporaries of my sister Julie, and both, somehow, consider her a close friend and confidante. No, I stay as far away from those two as circumstances permit!"

"Meghada," Actor said flatly, his lips pursed, his eyes narrowed in chagrin.

"What?" Garrison and Richards asked in unison, looking around but not seeing the redhead anywhere around, til Actor jerked his chin toward the far corner. There she was, the rest of Garrison's team with her, all with satisfied grins on their faces, each now lifting a glass, as if in a toast, in Actor's direction. Actor gave an extremely stiff bow of his head in acknowledgement, and turned to look at his two companions.

"Meghada," he explained with some disgust. "She was the one who introduced me to Miss Aurelia Carmichael at the bookstore. She was ALSO the one who, when seeing 'her' there again on our second trip to obtain that special order for our mission, suggested since 'your previous encounter with Miss Carmichael went so well', perhaps I might wish to extend an invitation to Augustine's for their gala dinner tonight. It was also Meghada who pulled me away almost immediately, just after I issued my dinner invitation, reminding me we were meeting you and the others momentarily. I barely had time to say anything else."

Richards continued to look puzzled, but Garrison's face showed his own enlightenment, as did the burst of laughter he just couldn't contain.

"Well, as Casino did say, 'payback is a bitch'."

Actor admitted, "I believe Chief and Goniff were also correct. Sometimes 'payback is a Dragon', and yes, sometimes they are one and the same!"

He slowly rose to his feet, checked to be sure he wasn't dripping pasta and sauce onto his surroundings, and drew a deep breath.

"It appears I have an apology to make after all, and a relationship to mend. If you will excuse me," he said stiffly as he left Garrison and Richards and made his way over to the side table, leaving Garrison to give an abbreviated explanation to the wondering Kevin Richards.

The diners at the other tables watched in intense interest, ready to duck if more food started flying. But that was not to be. They saw only a tall, previously elegantly attired gentleman, making a solemn bow to a young woman seated with three men. There were words from him, too low for anyone but those at that table to hear, but the raised brows and quick glances exchanged by the three seated men showed it wasn't quite what they had expected.

Just as the slow, then appreciative smile from the redhead in the chocolate colored dress came as a surprise, not to mention her rising and extending her hand to give his a firm shake. 

Meghada used a spare napkin to mop up a little residual sauce from Actor's neck while Goniff scurried to grab an extra chair and push it up to their table, motioning to the waiter for service.

"Ei, Actor, now that we got the formalities outta the way, w'at do you fancy for dinner? Expect they're outta that dish you're wearing, but something else should do nicely. Waiter, bring our friend w'atever 'e wants; 'ad a rough start to 'is night, 'e 'as," and Actor was gathered back into the fold, all forgiven.

He would remember this, and the experience DID tend to temper, if not his attitude, then certainly his behavior, around the fiery redhead. 

After all, if a few indiscreet words could elicit THIS sort of a response, who knew what she might come up with if he offered an even greater offense??!


End file.
